by 
Do you want more engagement on your Instagram profile?
Have you considered rewarding your followers with a giveaway?
Instagram contests give people an entertaining reason to interact with and promote your business and products.
In this article, you'll discover four types of Instagram contests that will engage your fans.
#1: Host a Like-to-Win Contest
One major factor in finding success on Instagram is getting those magic likes to start rolling in. A “like to win” contest is an easy way to do that. Simply post a contest image (usually a graphic explaining the contest) and tell people to like it to win. Then pick a random winner from among the likes, comment with the winner's handle, and boom, you've created a contest.
When you post the contest image, add several related industry hashtags to capture an audience and don't forget to include #contest and #giveaway, which will help you get some followers quickly. A great contest with a compelling prize can dramatically expand your audience on Instagram.
A series of like giveaways is the best way to go, because it helps build momentum. One-offs tend to be less effective. People will come back again and again to your page if you offer contests regularly. Regular giveaways give followers lots of chances to win, and more importantly, multiple chances to engage.
Below is a perfect example of a like contest: clear rules, a cool image, and a well-communicated timetable. It's important to require entrants in like contests to also like your page, in addition to liking the image.
Contest images don't always have to show the product. If you do regular giveaways and start building a relationship with your audience, you can get more creative with your images.
A simple like contest on Instagram can help you quickly create excitement around and interest in your page. The best part? It's easy for everyone!
#2: Launch a Selfie Contest
In a selfie contest, you invite people to post photos of themselves using your product, posing in unique locations, or showing off your logo all over the city.
Selfie contests on Instagram do a wonderful job of connecting your audience to your product and putting social context around your marketing. There's no better example of personal engagement with a product than through a selfie contest.
Be creative! Selfies like this one from C2Fit's contest not only offer useful engagement on Instagram, but also bring out fun, compelling images!
Go Deeper Than an Article Can Take You
Join thousands of small-business marketers at Social Media Marketing World — three days of AI, social media, and marketing strategy taught by world-class experts. April 1–3, 2027 in Anaheim.
Every session is pitch-free and built around tactics you can use yourself, no big team required. Your All-Access ticket includes an extra day of workshops, full access to AI Business World, and recordings of everything.
GET MY ALL-ACCESS TICKET — SAVE $790
If your product isn't physical, that doesn't mean a selfie contest won't work for your business. Human Foosball ran a selfie contest that capitalized on its audience and that serious gameface.
Don't forget to announce the winner with an image on your Instagram. People love to see that someone actually won and it generates momentum for future contests.
Tired of Guessing Which AI Moves Matter?
New AI tools and strategies launch every week — and figuring out which ones matter takes hours you don't have.The AI Business Society filters the noise for you, with expert-led training you can put to work the same day — plus a community of marketers sharing what's actually working.
I'M READY FOR REAL AI RESULTS
The cool thing about selfie contests is that the content comes from users rather than you. This frees up your time and energy for other projects, while also showcasing your customers.
#3: Run a Hashtag Contest
Like so much of social media, Instagram is built on hashtags. In a hashtag contest, ask people to post photos and require they use your hashtag. Then you just search for the hashtag and choose the winner.
This kind of contest is particularly good for branding purposes and getting your name out there. The reach doesn't come from you but from your followers' audiences (their friends and their friends' friends).
It's easy to create a “share to win” contest. This simple giveaway from Lou Taylor uses a great image and offers some basic instructions.
Luxe Fitness uses a combination of hashtag and voting to create regular contests for users, generating tremendous results. Users come back again and again, tag their friends, and dramatically increase the reach of the brand.
Hashtag contests are a perfect way to tap into the viral nature of social media and they work wonderfully for growing your Instagram following.
#4: Design a Voting Contest
With voting contests, ask Instagram users to submit photos to your hashtag and then have other people vote on the best photos through likes or comments. The photos could be of anything to do with your business. Whoever gets the most likes or votes wins! It's that simple.
This kind of contest encourages users to get more deeply involved with your product, as they have a stake in pushing your reach wider. That kind of investment can offer exponential results.
A voting contest is more involved than the Instagram giveaways mentioned above. If you want folks to do something for you, you need to offer something compelling as a prize; the bigger, the better. It's also critical that you spell out the rules explicitly on your Instagram.
This contest from Chord Hero hits all of the right notes by including detailed instructions on how to enter the contest right on the image, allowing people to share the contest across platforms without losing the parameters.
Running a voting contest requires more involvement from you. You'll need to keep track of each entry and the number of likes, and in the case of the example above, be sure the rules have been followed. In return for that effort, you'll get a truly expansive level of engagement not only by the participants, but from their network of friends as well.
Want more like this? Explore Instagram for Business!
.
Conclusion
Running Instagram contests can help you increase your reach and improve engagement. Pick one of these contests and set it up today.
What do you think? Have you tried running an Instagram contest? What were the results? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.
Where Do You Actually Stand With AI?
Most marketers use AI, but they don't know what's holding them back from real results.
Our 3-minute quiz pinpoints the one gap keeping you stuck — and gives you the exact next step to fix it.
GET MY RESULTS
